A generationDuring the opposition period from 2010 to 2017 CDU And the FDP red and green government in North Rhine-Westphalia, they ruthlessly resolved the debt problem ahead of schedule. This is a simple exercise. After all, budget policy is the biggest problem area in the government of Prime Minister Hannelol Kraft (SPD). The huge debt accumulated in the past few decades has grown to more than 140 billion euros. For this reason, the CDU and the Liberal Democratic Party awarded Kraft the title of “Debt Queen”. Both parties also won the 2017 state elections, promising to do better and consolidate the budget in the spirit of intergenerational justice.
Finance Minister Lutz Lienenkämper subsequently repaid 542 million euros in the 2018 budget year. In addition, CDU politicians regularly submit draft budgets with no new debts. The 2022 budget approved on Wednesday reached a record 87.5 billion euros (although the tax loss related to the new crown virus was 3.65 billion euros, an increase of 3.4 billion euros from the previous year) again without borrowing. At least officially.
Because Linennkämper paid the income gap of the so-called Corona Relief Program, just like last year. This is a special fund established last year to cushion the huge cost of the pandemic. Its scale is as high as 25 billion euros, initially reaching 11.22 billion euros in 2020-fully financed by loans. The Director of the National Audit Office, Brigitte Mandt, took Lienenkaammer’s method to court. The statement that there is no new debt at the end of the “general budget” is “at least misleading.”
In fact, 11.22 billion is the highest single loan amount in the country’s history. In one fell swoop, it became the debt owed by North Rhine-Westphalia in the first 32 years since its establishment in August 1946. The debt level has reached a dizzyingly new level: 155 billion euros. The opposition has not yet come up with the idea of declaring Prime Minister Amin Raschelt (CDU) as the new “King of Debt” in North Rhine-Westphalia.Go rudely Social Democratic Party And green is still black and yellow in court. The Green Party accuses the government of having a “meaningless effect”, and opposition leader Thomas Cuchatti (SPD) called it a “financial policy trick.” Speaking of the rescue plan, it is mainly the “auxiliary funds to reduce bookkeeping” of the Minister of Finance.
Even before the pandemic, the Court of Auditors Black and yellow No good household registration certificate was issued. In his annual report, he complained that despite the high tax revenue and low interest expenses, the government did not seize the opportunity to carry out obvious integration. Earlier this week, Auditor General Mandt reminded that Lienenkämper used a budget surplus of 2.8 billion euros in 2018 and 2019 to establish financial reserves in general reserves, rather than repayments. This is one of the reasons why North Rhine-Westphalia’s current debt level is “higher than it should be”. The budget situation has deteriorated drastically. A review of all expenditures in the country is already imminent. So far, the situation is just the opposite. Although Schwarz-Yellow promised not to further expand the state apparatus in 2017, he still created hundreds of new jobs.
According to the Court of Audit, the CDU and Liberal Democratic Party As the Corona Rescue Plan is about to break the debt brake rules, otherwise they will remain so high. Indeed, since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic is a special situation, new loans are usually allowed. But certain conditions must be met. Under certain circumstances, this includes: Only when no other funds are available, it is possible to resort to the corona relief program of credit financing due to the constitutional economic efficiency requirements. Mandt stated that, unlike Finance Minister Lienenkämper’s plan, “the general reserve must therefore be dissolved immediately and completely”.
5 billion euros repaid annually
In any case, the government and parliament should not succumb to the temptation to pay for measures that are desirable in the rescue plan, perhaps other necessary, but related to the new crown virus. Every effort must be made to ensure that the special funds funded by credit are actually sufficient before the end of the special circumstances, but at best they will not be used in full. If the result is 25 billion, then according to the linear distribution of the 50-year repayment period stipulated by the state government, there will be an annual repayment burden of more than 5 billion euros. This is roughly the last time North Rhine-Westphalia can repay the amount in 2018. “So this goal cannot be achieved,” Mant said.
Mante warned: “The purpose is to prevent the coronavirus pandemic mainly at the expense of future generations, thereby severely limiting their financial policy room for maneuver.” The record debt level that has been reached should not become an “intergenerational gap.” According to the current report of the Court of Auditors, only by formulating a sustainable fiscal policy can the country maintain its actions and performance in the long-term and future crises. “The path to normality after the pandemic means in particular for North Rhine-Westphalia that there is no choice but to budget consolidation that has been considered urgently needed for many years and cannot be postponed.”
Every Tuesday
